By Trilby Goouch
Blogs Editor

As a frequent visitor of Starbucks, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience the copious amounts of free samples that seem to appear during each holiday season. Their marketing tactic is clearly working; I find myself craving nanaimo bars, cranberry bliss bars and warmed up chocolate chip cookies on a daily basis. Unfortunately, my budget doesn’t allow for daily $3 treats, so I’ve come up with a solution that is budget friendly, equally delicious and satisfies my sweet tooth: DIY Starbucks! I began my DIY adventure with two of my favourite Starbucks baked goods: cranberry bliss bars and nanaimo bars. Both went above and beyond expectations, with many of my friends noting they actually preferred my nanaimo bar version. Try it out over the holiday season!

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Cake
3/4 cup butter, softened
1¼ cups of brown sugar
3 eggs
1½ tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Frosting
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Instructions
Cake
• Preheat oven to 350F
• Make the cake by beating the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer; add in eggs, vanilla and salt, beating well.
• Gradually mix in flour and baking powder until smooth
• Add dried cranberries and white chocolate chips, mixing by hand
• Pour into a buttered 9×13 inch baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes

Frosting
• Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon and vanilla in a medium size bowl and blend with an electric mixer; spread onto cake when the cake has cooled
• Sprinkle with 1/4 cup chopped cranberries and refrigerate

Makes 16.

Nanaimo Bars

Cookie Base
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® double chocolate chunk cookie mix
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup chopped nut topping or chopped walnuts
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg

Filling
4 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup milk

Topping
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Instructions
Cookie Base
• Heat oven to 350F. Line bottom and sides of 13×9 inch pan with foil, leaving foil overhanging at two opposite sides of pan.
• In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until well mixed. Spread into pan; press lightly. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until set. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Filling
• In another large bowl, stir together powdered sugar and pudding mix. Add 1/3 cup butter and the milk; beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth (filling will be very thick). Spoon over cookie base; press evenly to cover. Refrigerate while making topping.

Topping
• In small microwaveable bowl, microwave topping ingredients uncovered on high for 1 to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Spread over filling. Refrigerate uncovered until set, about 30 minutes.

Use foil to lift bars from pan; pull foil from sides of bars. Cut into squares. Store covered in refrigerator.

Serves 36.

Recipes adapted from:
Topsecretrecipes.com + Bettycrocker.com